The FAQs have led me to the liklihood that I need to (first) check the Defrost Timer, which should be somewhere in the FF compartment. I know what the part looks like, but I can't find where it's hiding in my MSD2454FRQ. I have pulled out all the drawers and I removed the cover at the top, over the bulbs, etc. Any thoughts on what I may have missed? Hurry, my beer, it warms! Thanks!

Whoa there big fella....................git yerself a mirror and look up in the right front area of the control console..........look for a small round hole, it is there to stick your 'stubby' screwdriver into and 'turn'...................Clock wise until you hear the 'click'........... go slow as not to blast right thru the defrost cycle.............................

Thanks for the tip, '51. The heater functioned after I rotated the little knob to the click, getting up above 61 F. After 20 minutes the compressor came back on and everything cooled back down, I guess that means the Defrost Timer was shot and I ordered the replacement. That means I will still have to remove every other thing in Reg's diagram to get down to Item # 13, but at least I didn't have to do that, just to test the Timer. Thanks, folks!

Let me get this straight.........................If you turned the defrost timer till it clicked, the heater operated, then it clicked again and the heater turned off and the system started ( AND you did not touch the timer, it advanced on it's own ).................After 20 minutes, the system restarted.... it does not appear to be a timer problem............................... If it was a friggy timer, it would be replaced with no hesitation...............What was the original complaint????.

Well, originally it was warm fridge and freezer. I went through that flow chart and first cleaned the condenser coils thoroughly, with no observable results. Temp in freezer compartment hovered around 36 F.

So I emptied the freezer into coolers and pulled off the back panel to look at the evaporator coils and what I observed is depicted now in my original post (for some reason, I can't insert photos within the thread). So I defrosted with a blow dryer, then wanted to run the Defrost cycle test, thus needed to get at the timer, to see if the heater was working.

For what it is worth, I ran the defrost timer test after the fridge ran all night. Therefore, everything was cold and there was a bit of frost built up. After the CLICK, the temp in the Heater wires climbed to @ 63 F. I assume the Defrost Timer ended the cycle after 20 minutes, as the wires dropped below 40F, last I checked (@ 25 minutes after CLICK), before I put the freezer back together and re-stocked all the food out of the coolers.

My intention was to periodically manually defrost the unit (turn till the Timer CLICKs), every 6 hours or so, until the new timer arrives (probably Monday).

...then it would go into perma-defrost mode. During which the compressor and fans would cease running, as well. The Defrost cycle was completly silent. Only the lights being on and heater wires warming were evidence that it was even plugged in.

"...Now pull your head outta the refrigerator and plug it back in. The light should come on, but you should not hear any motors running. Open the freezer and wait a few minutes. If the heaters and terminator are working properly, you may hear sizzling or even see an orange glow. Listen and look carefully. The other thing to look for is a steady trickle of water dripping into the condensate pan underneath the refrigerator. Give it a good five minutes. If it looks like the defrosting system is doing its thang, then the defrost timer was stuck in run mode–replace it."

I get that the problem, here, seems to be that the Defrost Timer ended the cycle after @ 20 minutes. The Fermented Grandmaster didn't address what to do if the defrost cycle ended normally. In the absence of better ideas, I guess I replace the Timer. Maybe I'll see something else when I remove all of that stuff that covers the Timer in Reg's diagram.

the Defrost Timer motor / gears may be "stalling" and never reach the Defrost cycle..
although, if the Timer motor / gears stall during Defrost cycle .....

Exactly, a gear can prevent it from going into defrost at times but no problem coming out. Could also be a bad timer conection causing intermittent failure. Bottom line, if heater comes on after initiating manual defrost then replace timer. I have on rare occasions found intermittent defrost limits. Since they are cheap, you may as well change it as well.